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MOSTAR, February 5 (FENA) - The Conference of BiH Parliament Speakers, at which the Plan of Priorities for the Parliaments in BiH for accelerating the European integration process was adopted, was held in Mostar on Friday. On that occasion, Parliament Speakers signed a Joint Statement and expressed their commitment and readiness to take measures to implement the Plan of Priorities and the implementation of 14 key priorities from the European Commission Opinion on BiH's application for EU membership.
The conference was held within the project "EU Support to the Parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina in EU Integration Tasks", funded by the EU, and was attended by members of Collegium of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiHPA), speakers and deputy speakers of both houses of the FBiH Parliament, as well as of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska and the Assembly of the Brčko District.
Head of the EU Delegation and the EU Special Representative in BiH Johann Sattler, as well as representatives of the Hungarian National Assembly, the Austrian Parliament and the Croatian Parliament, who are implementing the project, also attended the meeting.
In her introductory address to the participants of the meeting, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the BiH PA Borjana Krišto thanked the European Union, the Delegation of the European Union to BiH, as well as the EU Member States implementing the Twinning project for their support in the process of European integration.
Krišto also spoke about the changes to the BiH Election Law, assessing that thanks to the changes so far, it has been possible to hold local elections in Mostar.
Emphasizing in his address the role of parliaments in BiH as key in the process of European integration of BiH, Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH Johann Sattler underlined that parliaments have a significant role in implementing the EU acquis.
The Ambassador welcomed the progress made by BiH in the EU integration process and warned of the slow pace of adoption of reform laws that meet the priorities of the European Commission's Opinion, especially the Law on Public Procurement, the Law on Conflict of Interest and the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council.
“The parliaments of every country that has an aspiration to join the European Union have a lot of work to do. Thousands of legal acts will have to be harmonized with BiH legislation, so it is very important that we have projects like this,” said Sattler.
He emphasized that the increased focus by the EU and the United States must be used this year.
Ambassador Sattler also reminded that the vast majority, more than 80 percent of BiH citizens, want to become part of the EU.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiHPA Dragan Čović said that the priority in the first half of this year is the adoption of amendments to the BiH Election Law, which would ensure equality and legitimate representation of the three constituent peoples at all levels of government, which would eliminate numerous problems and obstacles to BiH's European path.
As one of the priorities this year, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH Denis Zvizdić pointed out the recovery of the economy and the health system from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
He expressed confidence that BiH could meet nine key priorities from the European Commission's Opinion by May this year, which would ensure the credibility of the candidate status application.
The ambassadors of Hungary, Austria and Croatia, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH Parliament Mirsad Zaimović, the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament Tomislav Martinović and the Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska Denis Šulić also addressed the audience.
The participants of the meeting discussed the Plan of Priorities for the Parliaments in BiH for accelerating the process of European integration, which was presented by the project manager from the EU member state Zoltán Horváth.
During the meeting, it was assessed that the Plan of Priorities for BiH Parliaments is a strategic document, which aims to address the most urgent tasks so that parliaments in BiH, as key actors, be able to provide strategic guidance in the process of European integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and give their full contribution to the realization of 14 priorities from the Opinion of the European Commission on BiH's application for EU membership.
The highest representatives of the parliaments in BiH adopted and signed a Joint Statement in which they agreed on the text of the Plan of Priorities for the parliaments in BiH to accelerating the process of European integration, and expressed commitment to taking measures to implement the Plan.
By signing the Joint Statement, the speakers of the parliaments in BiH pledged to submit the Plan to their House or Assembly by end of February 2021, following the procedure prescribed by the internal documents of each of the parliaments in BiH.
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